Tako Founders Club Weekly Founder Spotlight | Base Founder Jesse

Founder's Club (https://app.tako.so/community/trend/founders-club) is a space for founders to interact, share insights, and build connections. It also provides an opportunity for users interested in emerging and trending projects to engage in direct conversations with founders.

Within the Base ecosystem, due to the lack of a timely Chinese communication channel, the Chinese-speaking community has always felt somewhat detached. Therefore, in the sixth edition of the "Founder's AMA," we invited @Base Founder @jessepollak to engage directly with Chinese-speaking users. The conversation was divided into two parts: 1) Jesse answered representative questions from the community, with over 80 questions collected for this session; 2) Jesse conducted a real-time text Q&A session on Tako on April 25th at 10:30 am.

Below is a summary of the first part of the discussion. The AMA was hosted by Julie (@juliethetako).

Q1 Julie

This question is from Mable (@mablejiang): You mentioned previously that you hoped to do more in Asia. Could you share your development plans in Asia?

(Related questions were also asked by: @Xuegaogx, @DeFiGuyLuke, @0x35_kaori, @mablejiang, @0xNought, @PANewsCN, @Moose777, @jacktod_, @0xginana)

Jesse: Last autumn, I spent a few weeks in Asia and had conversations with some developers. This reaffirmed my belief that we need to do more in this region.

Recently, we hired a country lead in the Philippines, and there are currently open country lead positions in Indonesia and Singapore, with more positions to be available in the future. We also plan to engage in closer collaborations with developers in China. I understand the importance of localization for the Chinese market, so we will provide more communication channels and resources for Chinese-speaking developers, creators, and users. Stay tuned for more information later this year.

Q2 Julie

This question is from Star (@starzqeth): Solana has a clear positioning, what is Base's positioning? It feels like doing a bit of everything, but none as thorough as Solana.

(The following users also inquired about related questions: @Whdysseus, @Michael_Liu93, @leoding0806x, @framenum, @mablejiang, @hoidya_, @taowang1, @Moose777)

Jesse: Base is a global on-chain economy, and we are making Base accessible to everyone through the execution of the 2025 strategy (see link below), while always staying true to our core values (Stay Base). Specifically, this means:

· Building powerful and open tools to help anyone build world-class on-chain applications.

· Nurturing a vibrant ecosystem that connects open on-chain applications to expand the Base user base.

· Creating a robust on-chain account that provides seamless fund, identity, and governance services.

· Making Base the center of the on-chain economy, with a highly liquid, always-on global capital market.

· Decentralizing, scaling, and accelerating Base to enable everyone worldwide to participate in the on-chain economy.

I understand the challenge you mentioned about meeting everyone's needs is indeed difficult, but I believe that if we can execute along these directions, it should be achievable. Lastly, I have great respect for the Solana team, and bringing a billion people onto the chain is certainly not something any single entity can accomplish.

https://base.mirror.xyz/gFOLgyrs8jtX4Eqt4Kh6ikWhB3tqrhQoKfddeqZIECs

Q3 Julie

This question is from Wu Shuo (@wublockchain): What do you think is the biggest challenge and dilemma for Ethereum currently? Have these challenges already affected its overall ecosystem development? What key breakthroughs has Base made in the Ethereum ecosystem? From which perspectives can Base help Ethereum solve existing problems?

(The following users also inquired about related questions: @ai_9684xtpa@PANewsCN@ZKSgu@0xcryptoHowe@Benjieming1Q84)

Jesse: @brian_armstrong often says, "Things are never as good as they seem, nor as bad as they seem." Recently, there has been a lot of negative news about ETH's price, which I believe is mostly noise. I am more focused on using @base to address what I see as key issues and to make sure everything on-chain "runs smoothly":

· Fast and Cheap: Transactions on Base have remained at less than one cent for over a year. We recently released Flash Blocks on the testnet, bringing transaction speeds down to 200 milliseconds. Fast and cheap.

· Secure and Easy: The smart wallet has removed much of the complexity, helping users unfamiliar with cryptocurrency to easily get started, and it only requires operation in a browser without the need for additional extensions or app installations. We can also ensure everything runs smoothly through subsidizing gas fees and recovery features.

· Developer<>User Flywheel: Many people initially get involved for a specific token, then want to explore more functionalities but don't have a clear next step. We are introducing Farcaster and miniapps into @CoinbaseWallet, seamlessly integrating everything and driving the expansion of this flywheel.

Stay humble, keep building.

Q4 Julie

This question is from @yjy616: Base has seen many original meme projects emerge, and even some community-driven "cultural events" have gained good traction. In Jesse's view, are memes and native culture an important part of Base's differentiation? How will the Base team further support the development of grassroots meme culture, especially in non-English-speaking communities?

(The following users also asked related questions: @0xPickleCati @0xNought)

Jesse: Yes, memes are definitely a part of our culture and a key factor that sets Base apart strategically from other platforms. I once gave a lecture explaining why I believe memes are so crucial in this process. But in simple terms, I think memes, just like in Web2, are an essential user onboarding tool. And the meme builders on Base have brought us our most potent cultural force. Special thanks to @clankeronbase, @apedotstore, @ClizaSystems, and other platform and community efforts; their contributions have made all of this possible.

Additionally, I have recently been discussing "Content Coins." Just as a social media post may be just an image or may turn into a viral meme, a content coin is also a simple post without its value expected. I believe that much content will evolve into memes, and many memes will also create content! @1_crypticpoet has a great article explaining how these interact.

Q5 Julie

This question is from @anymose96: How to understand Base is for everyone, and why was the official reference token minted so quickly?

Jesse: First of all, let's clarify: Base is for everyone is a post released by Base on Zora, not a formal token. We have been publishing content on Zora for years and are very interested in their Content is Coined new model.

Why did we do this? Because unlocking tokens provides a powerful tool for creators to earn income through creativity and paves the way for more experimental attempts. There has been a lot of discussion about this, with everyone debating whether it is a good or bad thing. My view is that people are accustomed to a traditional understanding of tokens, and this approach is new and different. We anticipated some criticism and indeed found it a bit daunting. If we could do it over, I would have @base make more statements and clarifications from the beginning.

Looking ahead, we will continue to mint coins because we believe everyone should bring their content to the chain. Our goal is to lead by example through action and experiment in public. If you want to learn more, you can listen to this great podcast by clicking here to view the Zora link

Q6 Julie

This question is from @jacktod_: base's future plan is to attract more web2 users to join web3. I have also seen the team engaging in various degrees of communication around the world, spreading knowledge, etc. What is the main purpose of getting users on-chain? Is it mainly at the level of everyday consumption, or is it more focused on defi, gamefi?

Jesse: Every day, I think about how to bring a billion people onto the chain, and the reality is, we cannot achieve this goal just by attracting those who are already interested in cryptocurrency. We need to expand this "cake," and to do that, I believe the answer is all the methods mentioned above. Our mission is to build a global on-chain economy that includes everyone.

Payments are a great example that showcases how on-chain technology can improve people's lives. I witnessed this firsthand last year while traveling globally, seeing how forex and international payments are so crucial for people to access the global economy. Stablecoins in local currencies and fast, low-cost on-chain payments have solved many real-world issues for people: they are almost instant, unlike traditional payments that take days, and the fees are as low as less than a cent (USD-denominated) instead of 3% or $50 or even more.

On-chain finance, social, entertainment, music, art, games, content... all these areas can improve people's lives by transferring control to developers and creators, rather than being centralized in the hands of large corporations.

Q7 Julie

This question is from @adJAstra: Do you think Coinbase Wallet will evolve into the ultimate platform for handling all on-chain transactions, especially in terms of app distribution and promotion? How far are we from this vision?

Jesse: It's coming soon! We have been rebuilding @CoinbaseWallet from scratch over the past few months, with the goal of making it 10 times faster while shifting the focus to solving the issues of discovery and distribution.

Once someone has purchased their first token, the next steps are not really intuitive in terms of what they can do next or what apps they might be interested in trying. Therefore, we are integrating Farcaster social feeds with mini-apps directly into @CoinbaseWallet and enabling users to easily discover on-chain experiences within the app without having to leave.

In this video, I detailed this point: Link. We will share more updates next week at Farcon!

Q8 Julie

This question is from @TechFlowPost: We see Base or yourself often interacting with Zora. What is the reason the team or you personally are bullish on Zora? What is Zora's unique positioning and ecosystem value within the Base ecosystem?

(The following user also asked a related question: @framenum)

Jesse: I am very bullish on on-chain social media as it has the potential to drive viral adoption, and Zora is a great example of this (if you haven't tried the app yet, download it now).

In traditional social platforms, centralized companies control content and users. In on-chain social media, creators own their content and can earn income when they share (beyond just likes). Posts on Zora are automatically minted, and creators receive a portion of transaction fees. In this way, on-chain social media disrupts the traditional model by returning control to creators.

Over the past week or so, I have witnessed firsthand how powerful this model is in attracting new users to the space. You can use Zora without knowing about cryptocurrency and earn from your own posts. I believe we need more apps like this to help onboard billions to the blockchain.

Looking forward to seeing more creative initiatives from other developers in this space!

Q9 Julie

This question is from @PANewsCN: In Base's recently released 2025 roadmap, the goal of achieving 25 million users, 25,000 developers, and 1 billion on-chain transactions within the year was proposed. What strategies and measures does Base plan to take to achieve these growth goals, and how are the priorities of these goals ranked?

(The following user also asked a related question: @Cyrus_G3)

Jesse: These are what we call "big, bold, audacious goals." If we hit 100% of our goals, it means we didn't think big enough, so I challenge our team to set even larger goals. If we want to onboard a billion people to the blockchain, these are the strategies we must take.

So, what are we doing to achieve this goal?

We are increasing our investment in more powerful and open developer tools. We are particularly focused on developers because they will build the on-chain applications that will attract billions of users.

We are rebuilding @coinbasewallet from the ground up to make it 10 times faster, more user-friendly, and to enhance content discovery through the addition of Farcaster social dynamics. We are also integrating mini-apps to allow users to experience them within the app without leaving.

We are continuing to decentralize, scale, and speed up Base because we believe that building a truly global economy can only be done by creating a decentralized, open platform. In the first phase, there will be a capacity of 250 mgas/s and faster blocks. More details can be found in the blog post below: Click here to view the blog post

Q10 Julie

This question is from @0xLuo: What directions do you hope developers on Base will focus on? What important products or categories do you currently feel are missing in the ecosystem?

(The following users also asked related questions: @Xuegaogx @hoidya_ @0xcryptoHowe @Moose777 @PANewsCN @TeddyinEden @Nazarick_eth)

Jesse: We have just launched Base Batches (basebatches.xyz), which covers four main themes: AI, stablecoins, mini-apps, and consumer applications. I am very excited to see developers build more projects in these areas, as there are really a lot of opportunities. If you are a developer looking for support from zero to one, feel free to join Base Batches!

Q11 Julie

This question is from @Benjieming1Q84: Is Farcaster considering full adoption by Chinese users? If Farcaster is not considering this, how will base/coinbase wallet cover different regions and languages?

(The following user also asked a related question: @adJAstra@jacktod_)

Jesse: I know that Warpcast is not currently localized for Chinese users, but I am thrilled to see clients like @tako accelerating efforts to fill this gap. However, if we want the Chinese community to fully embrace this network, there is still a lot of work to be done.

This is very important to me and is one of the reasons I am hosting this AMA, hoping to interact more directly with the Chinese community. Currently, I do not have specific features or timelines to share, but my team is recruiting country leads across Asia, with a particular focus on Chinese speakers. We are dedicated to building a more inclusive global network.

Base is for everyone—this means we will invest more effort in the localization of Base, Farcaster, and the entire community in the future.

Q12 Julie

This question is from @adJAstra: What is the roadmap for Coinbase Wallet integrating Farcaster? How will user behavior change when users access social content or mini-apps through Warpcast via Coinbase Wallet instead of c directly?

Jesse: We are rebuilding Coinbase Wallet from the ground up, with plans for full Farcaster social dynamics, as well as mini-apps that can be interacted with directly in the feed. This will start rolling out soon!

I believe that the strength of adding this feature to Coinbase Wallet is that we can support it within the existing user context. This will not only provide more distribution channels for apps but also help users discover apps they may be interested in. I think this will bring more user engagement for developers like you, and I am very excited about it.

Q13 Julie

This question is from @kongxairdrop: Does Base have plans to issue its own token in the future?

(The following users also asked related questions: @almalq.eth @aaron183Aaros@CryptoPainter_X)

Jesse: We do not have plans to issue a new network token. Base uses ETH as the native asset to pay for Gas fees. My current focus is on building an excellent product that can serve developers (those creating applications), as well as users and businesses (those using these applications) effectively.

Q14 Julie

This question is from @CryptoPainter_X: Although Base has promised a multi-signature structure to ensure immunity from Coinbase's influence, in the Chinese-speaking community, the "incubated by CB" label and the naming of "Base" seem to have been equated to some extent early on. I would like to ask, in the future, how does Base plan to achieve comprehensive independence on both a technical and social level and completely shed this label that has long influenced its development?

Jesse: Base is open and permissionless. Despite our incubation within Coinbase (similar to how many other networks are also incubated in labs), we have a deep commitment to decentralization. Why? Because we believe that only on a decentralized platform can a global on-chain economy thrive, promoting innovation, creativity, and freedom.

From the beginning, Coinbase and Base have adhered to principles of neutrality, ensuring users' sovereignty over their crypto assets, ensuring unbiased transaction ordering on Base, protecting the discretion of non-public data, and guaranteeing users the ability to withdraw from Base without restrictions. Over the past year, we have focused on achieving the first phase of decentralization, and soon we will share more progress on this front.

I also believe that we need to continue working to establish Base as an independent brand and ecosystem, distinguishing it perceptually from Coinbase while leveraging all the advantages that come from collaboration. We will soon have some exciting updates to share on this front :)

Q15 Julie

This question is from @0xLuo: What support can Base developers receive from the official team? For example, funding, exposure, guidance? What is the best way to obtain this support?

(The following users also asked related questions: @taowang1 @framenum)

Jesse: We are committed to supporting developers at various stages, whether you have just released your first on-chain experiment or are scaling a real business, we are here to support you.

I am very excited to introduce to everyone a brand new project — Base Batches, which is a global developer program aimed at providing developers with everything they need to grow — funding, exposure, mentor support, community resources, you name it.

It is divided into several stages: First, you join the Buildathon in your region (we hold events globally). If you excel, you have the opportunity to enter our incubator, where you will receive hands-on support from mentors, Base core team members, and outstanding partners. Next is Demo Day, where the top-performing teams will showcase to the judges, vying for up to $1 million in funding support.

This is not just a one-time event — we are building a long-term support system to help you from ideation to gaining traction, and then developing into a full-fledged company. We aim to support you at every stage.

Visit base.org/build now to join a batch!

Q16 Julie

This question is from @TeddyinEden: Base gives off a clean, mainstream, and brand-friendly vibe. What is your attitude towards projects that are more on the edge, provocative, or controversial? Can such projects find a place on Base?

(The following user has also asked a related question: @hoidya_)

Jesse: Base welcomes everyone from everywhere.

Lastly, thanks to all users who participated in asking questions! If your question was not addressed or if you have follow-up questions, you can join the live AMA session tomorrow, April 25th at 10:30 AM, to ask your question, and Jesse will answer in real-time!

Special thanks to: @0x35_kaori@0xHarryWeb3@0xLuo@0xNought@0xPickleCati@0xcryptoHowe@0xginana@Anonymous@Bamboocrycry@Benjieming1Q84@Candy@CryptoPainter_X@Cyrus_G3@DeFiGuyLuke@EEEEdison1992@KathySats@Michael_Liu93@Moose777@Nazarick_eth@PANewsCN@RaccoonHKG@TechFlowPost@TeddyinEden@Whdysseus@Xuegaogx@ZKSgu@aaron183Aaros@adJAstra@ai_9684xtpa@alacheng@alexin091@almalq@anymose96@framenum@hoidya_@jacktod_@joezhoublack@kongxairdrop@leo7_lau@leoding0806x@lurenbian@mablejiang@noneptr@otzgary@ps2025moon@sheabao@starzqeth@taowang1@wangzai5680@wublockchain@yjy616@silverfang88@jhaninvest@the_andydandy

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